Throughout the United States, the "charter school" movement is being discussed and implemented in numerous venues and configurations, and researchers have considered the pros and cons of these schools. One example of an exemplary charter school is Lake Forest Elementary Charter School in New Orleans, Louisiana. This charter school (www. lakeforestcharter.org) was established as a mechanism to bring families back to East New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans in August 2005, was one of the costliest and deadliest natural disasters in the history of the United States. Because East New Orleans was so devastated, an innovative response was needed to encourage people back to the city. It was hard to know what to rebuild first. Major institutions had to be rebuilt in order for East New Orleans to begin to "pick up the pieces." How does a massive rebuilding project such as this begin? One response was building the first public charter school to open its doors in Orleans Parish, Post-Katrina. This article takes a look at the charter school five years later. (Contains 2 tables.)